What would the little kids pick? Good times or survival skills?
I wrote Niko, and I underlined it several times.
Then I rose and put my vote into the empty personal-size pizza box Alex had created as a ballot box.
Alex retired to the corner booth, where he counted and recounted dutifully.
He rose and walked to the front of the room.
I tried to catch his eye, but he kept his gaze on the floor.
Alex whispered the results to Josie.
She took a moment and then spoke.
“This was a really close race, and that speaks to the fact that both our candidates are such good guys. Let’s not let there be any hard feelings, guys…”
She looked out at Jake and Niko.
“The winner is Niko.”
There were some cheers and a couple of boos. Brayden pronounced the election bull— (such a vocabulary!), but Jake rose to shake Niko’s hand.
“Congratulations,” Jake said. “Let me know what I can do to help, all right, man?”
Jake was sort of dancing on the tips of his toes. He had that much energy.
“Yes. Thank you,” said Niko.
Niko’s straight hair fell into his eyes and he pushed it back. Everything about Niko was straight. His hair, his posture, his whole way of being. The kid was utterly straight and totally trustworthy.
“Come on, man,” I heard Jake say to Brayden as they walked away, “let’s go get drunk.”
DAY 5
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GREENWAY 2.0
What was I dreaming of? Plumes of deadly ink? Astrid’s wild wavy hair draping across my face? A murderer rattling a gate?
I don’t know. When Niko nudged me awake, I sat up so fast I shook it all out of my head.
“What time is it?” I mumbled, squinting in the low light of the store.
“Seven,” Niko said. “Seven-oh-eight. I need your help in the Kitchen.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “Come back in two hours.”
I closed my eyes and rolled over on my air mattress.
Niko just stood over me. Hands on hips. Just waiting.
“Okay, okay,” I said.
“Meet me in the Kitchen,” he said.
He had two giant poster boards and a set of colored Sharpies. He was putting the finishing touches on a map of the store and this detailed daily schedule.
Niko had spent yesterday afternoon walking around the store with Alex, while I helped Josie with the kids. Dinner had been fairly uneventful, with Jake and Brayden off drunk and doing God knows what; Sahalia skulking around our perimeter, pissed off at everyone; and Josie being the loving mother to her large brood.
Yawning, I started a fresh pot of coffee.
“Why did I have to get up this early?” I asked him.
“You’re the cook,” he said. “I need you to get breakfast ready and then we’ll wake everyone up and I’ll give them their assignments for the day.”
“Man, they’re gonna love that,” I said.
“Structure,” Niko said. “Children need structure.”
“You’re not going to try to get Jake and Brayden to follow your plan, are you?”
Niko brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. He glanced at me.
“Not so much,” he said.
“Good,” I replied instantly.
It was funny and we laughed.
I think it was maybe the first time we’d ever laughed together.
I heard another voice join our laughter and turned to see Ulysses. He was wearing Batman pajamas, his round little belly showed under the top.
Trust Ulysses to join in laughing when he didn’t even know what the joke was.
“
“Yes, that’s right,” I said, tousling his hair. “What should we have?”
“Huevos rancheros!”
“Okay,” I said. “You know how to make?”
“Let’s go get eggs,” I said to him.
I nodded to Niko as we left. He was busy with his charts.
If huevos rancheros is scrambled eggs with salsa on top, then Ulysses did, indeed, know how to make huevos rancheros.
“Okay, team.” Niko addressed us after everyone had assembled and eaten breakfast. “We are going to do two things today. We are going to begin restoring and cleaning up the Greenway. And we are going to assess our resources.”
Chloe groaned, “Awww,” as if assessing resources was a chore her parents made her do every Sunday morning.
“Alex, you and I will take an inventory of our power and security. The rest of you will begin Operation Restock.”
Niko took the top poster board away and he showed us all the map of the store. Each kid’s name was on a sticky note and was placed in an area.
Sahalia—Media Department.
Chloe—Pharmacy.
Max and Ulysses—Automotive.
Batiste—Toys.
The McKinley Twins—Home Improvement.
Me—(surprise, surprise) Food and Drinks.
“Why doesn’t Josie have an aisle?” Chloe asked.
“I have a secret project,” Josie told us.
“Oooh, what is it? What is it?” the kids demanded.
“You’ll see,” she answered with a wink.
Niko went on with our assignments—we were to restore each aisle exactly to how it had been before the earthquake.
Niko stood up and gestured over to the cart corral right next to our dead school bus.
There were six stocked shopping carts lined up. Each cart held a mop, a broom, a dust pan, 409 spray, Pine-Sol, paper towels, rags, and trash bags—lots of trash bags.
First, Niko told us, we should load up carts with everything broken and damaged, then haul it over to the stroller aisle—now dubbed the Dump. Then we were to go back to our aisles, replace the remaining items on the
